Tag Archives: mother’s day

If you know me well, you know that my love of gift giving runs deep. Like REAAL deep. {Embarrassing but true? One year in university I took out an additional – *ahem* unnecessary – student line of credit and I’m pretty sure my motivation was largely not wanting to ‘skimp’ on Christmas presents that year. Sooo irresponsible and silly, but that’s how much I loved giving gifts even as a newly minted 20 year old.}

Fast forward a few years and I seem to have passed my love of gift giving on to Miss G {though no silly Christmas shopping loans in her future – hah!} Over the years we’ve put together some really fun and unique gifts for the people she loves and while none of them have been fancy or expensive, they’ve been from the heart and super sweet, which I love.

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Here’s several of them – creative gifts kids can make for adults {or at least make with help}…

Hand Shaped Ring Dish – One of my most prized possessions and definitely something I’ll cherish forever. That’s Miss G’s little four year old hand turned into a ring dish and to this day it sits out on my vanity. It’s been through three moves {one of which was from the Middle East to Canada} and a power cleaning mishap {notice the scuffed fingertips and the glue on middle finger} and I still think it’s just beautiful. {This package of clay (CAN) is enough to make at least 3 hands, though you’ll probably get more out of it.}

‘I Love You’ Pillowcase – The simplest gift ever, but I’ve always wanted one for myself. I think it’s especially precious when kiddos are just first starting to print, but special no matter what. {We really like these markers (CAN) for this project.}

Creamsicle Sugar Scrub – Mmmmm… Citrus and vanilla? Yes please! Truly the easiest homemade bath product out there and while you most likely have everything you need to make it already in the house, it still feels luxurious. {This non-alcoholic vanilla (CAN) is our go-to at the moment – smells SO GOOD.}

Family Portrait Embroidery Hoop – Isn’t this the sweetest thing? Definitely kid made, but combination of the white fabric and the natural wood makes it totally hangable, even in the most put together of homes. {In addition to being the best for general kitchen use, dishtowels like these (CAN) are perfection for this project.}

Footprint Butterfly Pot Is there anything cuter than little feet? Nope. Definitely not. Fill this post with a beautiful plant or with soil and a packet of seeds and you’ve got a lovely gift. {This paint set (CAN) looks gorgeous and would be perfect for this project.}

Coconut Oat Milk Bath – Ahhhh… Skin soothing relaxation in a jar. We LOVE this stuff and use it nightly. It’s 2 ingredients and is naturally soothing, moisturizing, anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, and anti-inflammatory among other things, which makes it a perfect for treating skin irritations and eczema. {How perfect are these jars (CAN) for gifting it in?}

Homemade Beef Jerky – Anyone else have a meat lover in a meat-free home? That’s my husband’s situation, so we try to make an exception come his birthday and Father’s Day. Last year we made him this incredibly easy beef jerky and it was gone in no time at all. {These racks (CAN) are perfect for making beef jerky at home.}

Coffee Sugar Scrub – The scent of warm coffee and vanilla filling the air while having a shower? YES PLEASE. This sugar scrub is incredibly easy to make and believe it or not, it’s a great way to put used coffee grounds to good use. {I’m obsessed with these squat little jars (CAN)… Wouldn’t they be perfect for gifting sugar scrubs?}

‘I Love You’ Teacup – If there’s a reoccurring theme here, it has to be simple gifts that people will actually enjoy and use. And this little teacup is just that. How lovely would it be to be reminded that you’re loved with each sip of your evening tea? {We used these markers (CAN) for this project and I’m anxious to see how they hold up as it’s our first time using them.}

Potted Salad Garden – The perfect gift for a gardener or someone who just loves salad {me! me! me!} and it truly keeps on giving! {The style of pot we used for this project wasn’t easy to find, but check your local garden centre.}

Ombre Wooden Beaded Necklace – A kiddo-made necklace that anyone in their right mind would proudly sport while out and about! In fact, I’ll take one in each colour of the rainbow, pretty please. {This set of beads (CAN) includes assorted sizes and will make many necklaces!}

Handprint Memory Box – You know all of the sweet little notes and drawings kids give you that you just can’t bear to recycle? A little memory box like this is perfect place to keep them. {This box (CAN) is affordable and perfect!}

Handprint Baking Soda Clay Keepsakes – Another one of my favourite projects ever. Clearly I have a thing for handprints {and I absolutely love that the clay allows the little hand creases to be seen}, but wouldn’t this make such a special gift for a grandparent? {We made ours around Christmastime and went for golden glitter, but I’ve had my eye on this glitter set (CAN) for ages and would happily take a handprint keepsake in each colour.}

Family Portrait Mug – I mean how sweet is this?! A kiddo-drawn family portrait on your mug?? Plus, kid-drawn people are the very best. Miss G made this as Brad’s work mug and that little family portrait lasted for just over 3 years until we finally put it into the dishwasher not long ago. {Back then we used these special Sharpies (CAN).}

Potted Flower Pens – Wouldn’t this be the best gift for a teacher or someone who works in an office?! Not only are flower pens the prettiest, but no one is going to walk off with your pen without being noticed when your collection looks like this! {We picked up our faux flowers from the dollar store.}

Fingerprinted Love Tokens – Little heart-shaped tokens with your loved ones fingerprints on them? The sweetest! We actually made this set for Miss G when she was going through a bit of a tough transition (one has Brad’s fingerprints, one has mine, and the other has hers), but wouldn’t a his make a sweet gift for a parent or grandparent? Each child or grandchild could make one heart and the recipient could keep all of the little ones he/she loves most on his/her bedside table or in his/her bag. {This is the clay we used for this project.}

Kid-Drawn Phone Case – For the tech lover! Or anyone who uses a cell phone really. I find sentimental Father’s Day gifts especially tricky for Brad, but this was something that he actually used {at least for several months before switching back to his other case} and I think the little drawing Grae did is the sweetest! {You can find all kinds of clear phone case here (CAN).}

Hand-Drawn Tea Towels – Such a sweet and easy gift. Go in with a plan or let your little one’s imagination run wild – you really can’t go wrong here. Plus, who doesn’t need tea towels. {These towels (CAN) are my favourite because not only do they dry really well and not leave little fibres behind, but the fact that they don’t have any stretch makes them much easier to draw on.

Well that’s it… All kinds of gifts that kids can make for adults. What would you add to the list?

While Brad isn’t the type to whip up something crafty with the kids for Mother’s Day, writing for CBC Parents means that Miss G and I often get to create fun gift ideas to share on their site and of course – I directly benefit. ;)

It’s soooo easy that I’m hoping even those who consider themselves not at all crafty will give it a shot with their kiddos. The best part? {And this isn’t really usual advice from me, but} if you shop at a big box grocery store, pretty much everything you need should be there!

I had the loveliest day today. After sleeping in a little bit, Miss G very proudly came into the room and gave me this card as well as a basket full of some of my favourite things. That big blue oval on the right represents my big Mother’s Day gift… A bathtub! I can’t tell you how excited I am. Our apartments here in Kuwait come equipped with the most basic of showers only {the open-air kind that soak your entire bathroom}, which is really tough if you’re a bath person. Having not had one for the first 4 years here and now for most of year 5, I’m so, so excited not to have to do years 6 and 7 without one too. Such a nice surprise!

While we should have probably had these done last weekend and in the mail days ago, Miss G and I just put together these little gifts for the grandmas today. (Sorry Grandmas! Here’s a sneak peek of what’s coming very soon.)

‘I love you because…’ flowers are an old favourite of mine. I think I done a version of this project every year that I’ve taught and I absolutely adore hearing about why my munchkins love their moms (or fathers/caretakers/aunts/grandmas/etc.) – the answers are often heartwarming and hilarious all at once.

To get started, Gracen and I filed through my scrapbook paper stash and selected some paper colours for both of her grandmas. We talked about the parts of a flower, and as she described them, I cut them out. 6 petals, a ‘middle’, a stem, 2 leaves, and a background later, Miss G was ready to start assembling her first flower.

When I asked her if she knew what to do, she said she didn’t, but she got started independently anyways. She wanted to start with the yellow circle, and the only thing I helped her with was positioning it in a spot that would allow for enough room for both the petals and the stem.

She squeezed a dollop of glue on the back of each petal, then carefully tucked them underneath the centre piece, making sure that none overlapped too much.

When she was done with the petals, she glued on the stem and leaves.

Here’s her finished flower. Adorable, right?!

Once the flower had had a moment to dry, we sat down together and used the hand over hand technique to print ‘I love Grandma Sue because…’ in the middle of the flower. Then we talked about the reasons why she loved her Grandmas and added one idea to each petal. She was happy to help me print the first couple, but asked me to write down the ideas on my own after that, which I was totally fine with. This project is all about the ideas! I wrote down her phrases just as she’d said them, even when she told me that she loved Grandma Sue because of her nice feet and belly – hah! ☺

I think the grandmas are going to love these, and it will definitely be interesting to see how her reasons change over the years. Now to get them in the mail, ASAP.

♥

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Gracen and I have been spending a whole lot of time at the beach lately (yay!), but this afternoon, we finally got around to finishing off a fun little project we started days and days ago.

It began like this. Coffee filters, coloured water, and a plastic dropper out, creative table-style. Simply left out for her to discover and explore when she felt up to it.

Of course it didn’t take Grae long to find a table full of fun materials to experiment with. Without hesitation, she began using her dropper to slurp up coloured water and spew it back out on the filters.

She really loved watching how the colours spread and mixed with one another.

So much in fact, that she fully covered upwards of 30 separate filters. Thank goodness for a big laundry drying rack! We placed the filters on the rack in our solarium, and they dried in no time.

After tucking them away for several days, we came home from the beach today {some of us still sporting our bathing suits and sandy fingernails} and dug them out for a quick pre-nap project. We also gathered a pair of scissors, some long green pipe cleaners, and some short colourful pipe cleaners (regular pipe cleaners cut into thirds).

To transform our beautiful watercolour-y filters into flowers, we started by carefully folding them in half three times.

Then Grae would give me some sort of petal description (‘long and skinny!’, ‘pokey like the rose bush!’, ‘big, big, big, big, BIIIIIIIG!’, and ‘you know…..like….ummmm….like the little circle circle ones?’ were a few) and I’d cut the curved edge to match. I also snipped the very tip of the point off at this point too.

Then came her very favourite part – carefully unfolding the cut filter to reveal its shape.

Here are a few of the other shapes we came up with together.

Next, Grae would pick a small pipe cleaner, bend over the top so it was no longer pokey, and place the bottom through the tiny hole in the centre of the filter.

Then she’d bring the filter up around the pipe cleaner and pinch it at the base.

While she held it tightly, I’d wrap a long green pipe cleaner around the filter and short pipe cleaner to form the stem.

Fun, right?

Every flower turned out completely different from the last…

And by the end we had a beautiful bouquet of colourful flowers perfect for the mantle, a table centrepiece, or a Mother’s Day gift.

♥

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With Bradley at work again this Mother’s Day, my little lady and I got to have a special day, just the two of us. It started out with a low-key morning of puzzles, stories, and tickles at home while sipping tea and slowly getting ready for our day.

When we were good and ready, we ventured out to do something we rarely ever do – eat out, just the two of us. We went to Rocky Mountain Flatbread Company, a little restaurant on Main Street that is carbon neutral and offers an organic menu. Despite the fact that it was incredibly busy and they could have used another server, we loved it. The menu was filled with local, organic foods, their juices were fresh-squeezed, they gave Gracen crayons and a colouring page (which she was thrilled about), and there was a kids’ corner, complete with two wooden play kitchens, several tiny aprons, and an assortment of pots, pans, and felt food. We ordered an organic fresh-squeezed orange juice (Grae even got a few sips and loved it this time around) and a Bradner Farms flatbread pizza, topped with local organic free-range chicken, nut-free pesto, roasted red bell peppers, and red onions. It was a delish. And to top it off – all moms got a complimentary fudge brownie topped with fresh whipped cream, raspberry coulis, and mint leaves… Who could ask for more?

After lunch, we headed home for Gracen’s nap. She slumbered peacefully while I prepped and packed for day two at the beach. When she awoke a couple hours later, we climbed into the car and made our way to Spanish Banks for another beach adventure. The afternoon passed quickly as we frolicked in the sand, splashed in the water, and collected all sorts of drift wood, and before we knew it, it was time to head home for dinner, bath time, and bedtime.

Although I’ve already had the perfect day with my wee one, tomorrow we get to do it all over again, as Brad is off and we’ve officially marked the day as our family Mother’s Day. Bring on more beach time any day!